A Countdown To Easter
by Carbuncle
Summary: Aeris is crucified. (This may offend some religious type people.)


FINAL FANTASY VII  
  
'A Countdown To Easter'  
  
  
The Crucifixion  
  
So the SOLDIER's took charge of Aeris. Carrying her own cross, she went  
out to the place of the Skull. Here they crucified her, and with her  
two others-one on either side and Aeris in the middle.  
Rufus had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: AERIS  
OF MIDGAR, THE QUEEN OF ANCIENTS. Many of the ancients read this  
sign, for the place where Aeris was crucified was near the City of the  
Ancients, and the sign was written in Ancient language. Barrett  
protested to Rufus, "Do not write 'The Queen of the Ancients', but  
that this woman claimed to be queen of the Ancients."  
Rufus answered, "What I have written, I have written."  
When the SOLDIER's crucified Aeris, they took her clothes, dividing  
them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment  
remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to  
bottom.  
"Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot  
who will get it."  
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,  
  
  
"They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing."  
  
  
So this is what the SOLDIER's did.  
Near the cross of Aeris stood her mother, Barrett's daughter Marlene,  
Tifa the bar hostess, and Cloud Strife. When Aeris saw her mother  
there, and her friend whom she loved standing near by, she said to her  
mother, "Dear woman, get me down from here," and to her friend, "Cloud,  
you stupid fool. What's wrong with you?!" From that time on, this   
friend took her into his home.  
  
  
The Death of Aeris  
  
Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture  
would be fulfilled, Aeris said, "I'm friggin' thirsty." A jar of wine  
vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a  
stalk of the mandragora plant, and lifted it to Aeris's lips. When she  
had received the drink, Aeris said, "Ew! That sponge was covered in  
dirt." With that, she bowed her head and gave up her spirit.  
Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special  
Sabbath. Because the Ancients did not want the bodies left on the  
crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Rufus to have the legs broken  
and the bodies taken down. The SOLDIER's therefore came and broke the  
legs of the first man who had been crucified with Aeris, and then those  
of the other. But when they came to Aeris and found that she was  
already dead, they did not break her legs. Instead, one of the  
SOLDIER's pierced Aeris's side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow  
of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his  
testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies  
so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the  
scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of their bones will be broken,"  
and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have  
pierced."  
  
  
The Burial of Aeris  
  
Later, Cloud Strife of Nibelheim asked Rufus for the body of Aeris.  
Now Cloud was a friend of Aeris, but secretly because he feared her  
temper. With Rufus's permission, he came and took the body away. He was  
accomplished by Barrett, the man who earlier had visited Aeris at  
night. Barrett brought a mixture of materia and items, about  
seventy-five potions. Taking Aeris's body, the two of them wrapped it,  
with the ether, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with  
Ancient burial customs. At the place where Aeris was crucified, there  
was a garden, and in the garden a new cave, in which only one person  
had ever been laid. Because it was the Ancient day of Preparation and  
since the cave was near by, they laid Aeris there.  
  
  
The Empty Cave  
  
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Tifa  
Lockheart went to the cave and saw that the stone had been removed  
from the entrance. So she came running to Cid Highwind and her other  
friend, the one Aeris loved, and said, "They have taken the Ancient  
out of the cave, and we don't know where they have put her!"  
So Cid and the other friend started for the cave. Both were running,  
but the other friend outran Cid and reached the cave first. He bent  
over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go  
in. Then Cid, who was behind him, arrived and went into the cave. He  
saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that  
had been around Aeris's head. The cloth was folded up by itself,  
separate from the linen. Finally, the other friend, who had reached  
the cave first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did  
not understand from Scripture that Aeris had to rise from the dead.)  
  
  
Aeris Appears to Tifa Lockheart  
  
Then the party went back to their homes, but Tifa stood outside the  
cave singing. As she sang, she bent over to look into the cave and saw  
two angels in white, seated where Aeris's body had been, one at the  
head and the other at the foot.  
They asked her, "Lady, why are you singing?"  
"They have taken my friend away," she said, "and I don't know where  
they have put her, so I'm happy." At this, she turned around and saw  
Aeris standing there, but she did not realise that it was Aeris.  
"Lady," she said. "why are you singing? Who is it you are looking for?"  
Thinking she was the gardener, Tifa said, "Miss, if you have carried  
her away, tell me where you have put her, and I will bury her  
properly."  
Aeris said to her, "Tifa."  
She turned towards her and cried out in Frence, "Bonjour!" (which means  
Hello).  
Aeris said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the  
planet. Go instead to my friends and tell them, 'I am returning to the  
planet and your planet, to my world and your world.'"  
Tifa Lockheart went to her friends with the news: "Oh my God! They  
revived Aeris!" And she told them that she had said these things to  
her.  
  
THE END__________ 


End file.
